Apple’s court loss to Epic Games is a stunning turnaround | The DeanBeat
It took more than four years, but Epic Games finally prevailed this week in its antitrust case against Apple, the world’s most valuable company with a market value of $3.2 trillion. And now it’s possible that the floodgates are open to bring competition and financial gains for mobile game companies on iOS.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and his lawyers argued that Apple was a bully that was striking fear in the hearts of mobile game makers by punishing Epic in forcing Fortnite off the App Store. It also accused Apple of “malicious compliance” as the iPhone maker resisted regulatory measures in the European Union. For the most part, Apple was successful in blocking Epic Games in court and delaying the one favorable ruling that Epic got.
But that changed this week as U.S. District Court judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers held that Apple failed to comply with her ruling in 2021 and so it was in contempt of court for “willful violation” of her ruling, which found Apple blameless on nine of 10 big antitrust allegations. This ruling involves the one that Epic won — an order saying it was not OK for Apple to prohibit game makers from steering users to off-store websites for item purchases at lower prices. The judge felt this Apple rule stifled competition and harmed consumers, who had to pay higher prices due to Apple’s 30% take on all App Store item sales.
“Effective immediately Apple will no longer impede developers’ ability to communicate with users nor willthey levy or impose a new commission on off-app purchases,” Gonzalez Rogers wrote.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Apple said, “We strongly disagree with the decision. We will comply with the court’s order and we will appeal.”
The ramifications were heard around the world. It was a big subject at the Gamescom Latam Big Festival event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where I spent the week. Berkley Egenes, chief marketing and growth officer at Xsolla, who said on stage with mobile game devs that it was a big new day in the game industry. Xsolla already operates more than 500 webshops for game makers as alternatives to the App Store.
Sweeney wasted no time celebrating, as he tweeted about the court victory, saying “NO FEES on web transactions. Game over for the Apple Tax,” a reference to Apple’s 15% to 30% fees on developer revenues from App Store purchases. He said those “junk fees are now just as dead here in the United States of America as they are in Europe under the Digital Markets Act. Unlawful here, unlawful there.”
And yesterday Epic Games announced an update to the Epic Games Store revenue share and the launch of a new webshop feature, both starting in June 2025. Sweeney said the out-of-app-store purchases on web shops would start in June.
Now Epic Games Store is charging 0% fees for the first $1 million in revenue per app per year for game developers.
Starting in June 2025, for any Epic Games Store payments we process, developers will pay a 0% revenue share on their first $1,000,000 in revenue per app per year, and then regular 88%/12% revenue share when they earn more than that.
In June 2025, Epic is also releasing a new feature enabling developers to launch their own webshops hosted by the Epic Games Store. These webshops can offer players out-of-app purchases, as a more cost-effective alternative to in-app purchases, where Apple, Google, and others charge exorbitant fees. With new legal rulings in place, developers will be able to send players from games to make digital purchases from webshops on any platform that allows it, including iOS in the European Union and United States, Epic said.
As an extra bonus, players spending in Epic Webshops will also accrue 5% Epic Rewards on all their purchases.
Xsolla, meanwhile, has long offered webshops as an alternative means of generating revenues for game developers. Chris Hewish, chief strategy and communications officer, said in an interview with GamesBeat
He said that, on average, Xsolla’s webshops lift developer revenue by 10% to 16%, with many generating more revenue than that.
“The order is effective immediately. It’s not going to be sidelined while [Apple] pursues any kind of appeal,” Hewish said. “We think that this new rule really creates a clear opportunity for developers. And now they can, without any reservation, promote their web shop inside of their game. They can link directly to their web shop from their game. They can even empower players to instantly buy a specific IAP set up as a SKU with a signal tap straight out of the game so it removes from our perception and what we’re hearing is it removes all friction to driving web based purchases.”
He added, “And not only that. It removes the barriers that were in place prohibiting developers from actually communicating with their players in app to let them know that they could go outside of the app and all of that, all the scare tactics and all of the things, the roadblocks, the speed bumps that Apple put in the way are all” blocked now.
In the European Union, Apple was forced by regulators to enable alternative webshops with the enactment of the Digital Markets Act, which was aimed at restraining “gatekeeper platforms” from anticompetitive behavior. Apple allowed developers to move off the store, but it instituted a 27% core technology fee for those who did so. That effectively stopped developers from taking that step. For such behavior, the EU fined Apple 500 million euros.
“Now, the ruling said that there’s no additional fee is allowed on top of anything they’re doing. So it seems like the judge stripped everything away” in Apple’s delay tactics, Hewish said.
“When looking at it in the totality of the antitrust case, there were 10 issues and only one of them went Epic’s way. It seems like a small victory. Apple was barred from saying developers cannot steer people outside of the app store. It turns out that this may be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, piece of the whole thing. And now we do have enough data from all of the web shops that have been going on where we can see that not only do you save up to 25% on the platform fees, but we see that players are, even with all the friction, embracing web shops where there was an increase in the number of players going to web shops.”
Hewish said that the retention rate on web shops has climbed the 30% to 40% range. This is with all the friction that was in place because Apple put warnings in about the risks of going off the App Store.
“All of those barriers are removed. The sky is really the limit, and we think there’s a tremendous opportunity for developers,” Hewish said. “They can have direct relationships with their players. If you’re a mobile developer out there, this is a huge opportunity to go fast. They should really take advantage of this thunderclap bullet.”
Others agreed. Appcharge CEO Maor Sason said in a statement, “At Appcharge, we’ve long believed that players deserve choice – and that publishers deserve a direct relationship with their audience. The recent U.S. court ruling affirms what many of our clients have already proven – when you give players more options, they don’t churn. They buy more.”
Sason added, “We see this every day in the data. Web stores drive higher conversion rates, better margins, and deeper player engagement. Breaking down these barriers won’t just benefit developers – it will lead to a healthier, more sustainable ecosystem. One where players win, publishers grow, and even Apple can ultimately benefit from the increased transaction volume and innovation that real competition brings.”
As a payment provider purpose-built for mobile gaming, Sason said he welcome the ruling. It gives more studios the green light to build DTC strategies without fear of rejection, obfuscation, or policy whiplash.
“That said, we’re not naïve. Apple still holds immense power over the ecosystem, and there’s a long road ahead before enforcement becomes reality. But for now, this ruling sends a powerful signal – the walls are cracking. And the future of mobile commerce is going to look a lot more open,” Sason said.
And in a LinkedIn post, Steven Galanis, CEO of Cameo, said, “I’m thrilled about yesterday’s federal ruling that Apple violated antitrust laws, a massive win for creators everywhere. The 30% Apple tax has long burdened talent and the developers supporting them, siphoning off earnings that could fuel their creativity. This decision, which bans Apple from charging fees on external purchases and restricting developers from linking to alternative payment methods, could dismantle that tax, putting more money directly into creators’ pockets.”
He added, “At Cameo, we have long been outspoken about the harm this has caused in across ecosystem. For example, after Apple’s 30% tax off the top, creators earn only 52.5% of their cameo booking fee. To get to parity with what they earn on web, creators need to charge in-app purchasers 42% more than the same video costs on web. Making matters worse, we were explicitly not allowed to warn consumers in our app that prices are higher in our iOS app vs on Cameo.com. Doing so literally had got us kicked out of the App Store in the past.”
As a developer this puts in Cameo in a major bind, Galanis said.
“Do we force talent to price themselves the same in app vs on web meaning they earn less for the same work (which has caused many of our top talent to be “unavailable” in the iOS and Android apps), or do we allowed them to jack up their prices by 42% in app so they can make ‘equal pay for equal work’ at the expense of the fans paying to support them? It was a lose-lose.”
He said Apple’s restrictive policies have stifled innovation. Despite having an award-winning 4.9 Star app, our team has long deprioritized development on our iOS app because encouraging orders to flow through IAP meant higher prices for customers and lower earning for creators.
“For years our leadership team has debated entirely shutting down our consumer app because it had fallen so far behind our web experience,” he said. “Thanks to the Epic Games v. Apple case, we’re seeing a path to a fairer app ecosystem where creators can explore new platforms, access better payment options, and build stronger connections with fans. Imagine a world where talent keeps more of their earnings and innovates without punitive fees—that’s the future this ruling unlocks. Innovation and funding in the creator economy has stalled the past few years and this decision has the potential to be a major inflection point in its rebound. Cameo is all in for creators, and we’re ready to lead the charge in building a vibrant, creator-first app ecosystem that celebrates talent, rewards creativity, and connects fans like never before. It’s time to build again on iOS.”
Sweeney, the man who started the rebellion, noted that Fortnite would soon be coming back to the App Store, and he offered a peace proposal: If Apple extends the court’s friction-free, Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, Epic Games would return Fortnite to the App Store worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the topic.
Disclosure: Gamescom Latam paid my way to Brazil.
